Sandia Labs demos inexpensive, bomb-defusing robot hand

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You’ve probably seen plenty of videos demoing incredible, lifelike robot hands. There’s a reason all you ever see is the video, though. Robotic hands are incredibly expensive to build — often into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. With the aid of a grant from DARPA, Sandia Labs is working on a robotic hand that is cheap enough to disarm bombs and work in other dangerous environments.

For some tasks, the cold mechanical claw on most robots just won’t do it. At times like that, you want a more human-like touch. With grasping implements running so expensive, that often means a real person could be put in harms way to disarm that bomb. The Sandia Hand demoed on video looks like it at least comes close to the dexterity of the human hand.

The device can be altered with interchangeable magnetic finger attachments. This extreme flexibility allows operators to use tools like screwdrivers, flashlights, and cameras. The modular approach also makes the Sandia Hand more durable in that fingers won’t break if the hand is struck — they just snap off. The robot can even pick up its own disconnected fingers and reattach them. I’m not sure if building self-repairing robots is a good idea in the long run, but it’s really neat.

The hand has three fingers and a thumb, just like a Simpsons character. The articulation might not be as extraordinary as some other robot hands, but the cost is currently expected to be around $10,000 in low volumes. That’s already a fraction of what other systems run and the cost might come down further.